Slowly but surely, the netbook is growing up.

At first these sub-notebook machines were seen as weaklings. Now Nvidia Corp, which makes computer graphics cards, has teamed up with Lenovo to offer its second “ion” Netbook, following an announcement last month with Acer.  Nvidia’s suggestion for computer makers is to soup up the low-powered Intel Atom chips which run netbooks by combining them with Nvidia graphics cards.

The new product, the Lenovo IdeaPad S12, is touted by the companies as having the long life of Netbooks, but the quick graphics performance of Nvidia chips. It has a 12-inch screen and a keyboard, which puts it closer in size to the average laptop than to the average netbook.  Of course, the machine is priced closer to a low-powered laptop than it is to a traditional netbook, at $499 (if netbooks, being of such recent vintage, can be characterized as traditional).

The machine is said to run video games and other applications that usually can only limp along on a normal netbook. It runs all recent versions of Windows and will show high-definition Blue-ray movies.

Do not, however, try to buy one yet. It won’t be around until “later this summer” a press release says.

Most people beat up their laptops and eventually pay the price. But not so with an emerging class of so-called rugged laptops. Dell is releasing its second-generation fully-rugged model - the Latitude E6400 XFR - and the company says it provides even better protection from rain, dust and dirt, drops and spills and temperature extremes.

The 14.1-inch, 8.5 pound, touch-screen unit - which starts at $4,299 - is designed for military, first responders, oil and gas workers, factory floors and other areas where you would never dare drag a standard laptop. It’s a bit lighter and thinner than the first-generation XFR, and can get more than 13 hours of battery life with an optional 12-cell battery slice.

The unit’s chassis has what the company calls a “Ballistic Armor” protection system that Dell says provides twice the impact strength of traditional magnesium alloy. The laptop should be able to withstand a tumble from as high as four feet when closed and powered down, and three feet when open and working.

A brief demo last night that bore out Dell’s claims. First, the E6400 had an entire glass of water poured over its keyboard and screen, then was dropped from waist level onto the floor. The unit continued to chug along.

The laptop is set to compete with other rugged notebooks - such as Panasonic’s Toughbook - and PCs from Lenovo.

Apple’s ghost was hovering over the feast of gadgetry at IFA, the world’s largest consumer electronics fair in Berlin. Unlike most of its competitors, Apple itself didn’t have a stand - its still very much alive chief executive Steve Jobs doesn’t like to share the limelight with others.But Apple was the benchmark against which many of the journalists and trade buyers present assessed rival wares. Two products were touted as Apple killers, though neither quite makes it.

The one that comes closer is iRiver’s SPINN media player, which is a similar size to Apple’s iPod Touch but 40% lighter and has a touchscreen with superior OLED technology, which makes it ideal for watching video. The SPINN’s angular metal case contrasts with the more rounded Touch and is named after an knob built into its top right corner that allows users to easily flick through photos and music.

Buyers in the market for a dedicated music and video player may overlook the SPINN’s lack of wifi to connect to the internet, which the Touch has, but the SPINN’s Achilles’ heel is its meagre 8 gigabytes of memory. This is enough for thousands of songs but only three or four films. The top-of-the-range Touch has four times the capacity.

The other product viewed as a challenger to Apple was Samsung’s ultraportable X360 laptop which faces up to the Macbook Air as well as Lenovo’s X300. Like the Air but unlike the fractionally heavier X300, Samsung’s X360 eschews a DVD drive and weighs just 1.27 kg - even less than the Air.

The X360 can store more files than the Air, which came out in February, and connects more easily to a wider range of devices. Unfortunately in a market segment where looks matter, the X360’s shiny black plastic comes across as brash and, well, plasticky compared to the Air’s stylish tapered aluminium and the Lenovo X300’s discreet matt black casing.

Samsung’s display model was also covered in a generous layer of finger grease by lunchtime on Friday - testament for sure to visitors’ eagerness to paw the laptop but a warning to prospective buyers that they’ll need to back some wet-wipes when they travel.